NetWorker Backup Levels

November 29, 2011

Because it may not be practical or efficient to run full backups every day, you can specify the level of the backup to be performed during scheduled backups. By limiting the frequency of full backup, you help maintain server efficiency, while still ensuring that data is protected. Different backup levels enable you to trade off the number of volumes and amount of time required to complete a backup with that required to recover from a disk crash.

NetWorker has five kinds of backup levels, which are:

1- Full : Backs up all files, regardless of whether or not they have changed ( called Level Zero)

2- Level [1 – 9] : Backs up files that have changed since the last backup with a lower-numbered backup level.For example:
• A level 1 backup backs up all files that have changed since the most recent full backup.
• A level 3 backup backs up all files that have changed since the most recent backup at level 2, level 1, or full. For example, if the most recent backup was at level full, then a level 3 backup will back up all files that changed since the full backup. However, if the most recent backup was at level 2, then a level 3 backup will back up only those files changed since the level 2 backup.
• A level 9 back up backs up all the files that have changed since the most recent backup of any level except level 9.

Note: The NetWorker software ignores any incremental-level backups when determining what files should be backed up.

3- Incremental : Backs up files that have changed since the last backup, regardless of level.

4- Consolidated: Backs up all data that has changed since last full backup and then merges these changes with the last full backup.

5- Skip : Skips the scheduled backup. For example, you can skip a backup on a holiday if no one will be available to change or add more media volumes.